In 2006, Sir Thomas Thorp, a retired High Court judge said there might be 20 or more innocent people in prison in New Zealand. However, data released by Open Justice in 2023 found there have been nearly 900 wrongful convictions in the last ten years. But there is also no documented information describing the nature of the inquiry process used by the Ministry of Justice when considering applications for a pardon. Historically, the applicant had to provide the necessary information and make their case for the exercise of the prerogative of mercy. The Ministry would review the information, but had no power to actually investigate what happened. This meant that well-resourced applicants with access to professional assistance had a distinct advantage over those without such resources. Another concern is that historically, the Royal prerogative of mercy process received very few applications from Māori and Pasifika people, who are over-represented in the justice system. Between 11-16% of applications have been from Māori and Pasifika peoples, even though they make up more than 60% of the prison population. The Commission cites this statistic as part of the rationale for its establishment.
David Bain spent 13 years in prison before his conviction was overturned by the Privy Council in London after a lengthy legal battle conducted on his behalf by former All Black
Joe Karam. In 1993,
Peter Ellis was convicted on 16 counts of sexual offending involving children in his care at the Christchurch Civic Creche around the time of the
day-care sex-abuse hysteria. In October 2022, the Supreme Court found there were problems with the evidence from the main prosecution witness, a psychiatrist, and that the jury had not been fairly informed of the risk of contamination of the children's evidence. Ellis's convictions were quashed after he had died.
Teina Pora spent 20 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, before his conviction was overturned. Another case is that of
Alan Hall. It took 36 years, 19 of them spent in prison, before the Supreme Court of New Zealand acknowledged a substantial miscarriage of justice had occurred and overturned his conviction on 8 June 2022. Both Teina Pora and Alan Hall were subsequently diagnosed with autism, which made them vulnerable to manipulation when interrogated by police. A more recent case where a miscarriage of justice was declared involved the convictions of Gail Maney and Stephen Stone, who were convicted of murdering
Dean Fuller-Sandys. Stone was also convicted of killing Leah Stephens five days later. With no forensic evidence, the convictions were based on the testimony of four people, two of whom subsequently recanted, saying they were pressured by police to claim they were witnesses. Another possible case includes Shaun Allen, who was convicted of growing cannabis on his farm and has been battling for 29 years to clear his name. His farm was confiscated and he spent 18 months in prison. Others likely to make an application include
Mark Lundy and
Scott Watson, both of whom have protested their innocence despite spending years in prison. The Commission has said that the need for its work also stems from concerns about the lack of independence of the previous review process, the length of time it takes for investigations to be conducted, the reluctance of appeal courts to overturn convictions and the poor quality of investigations into miscarriages of justice. Until 2022, the New Zealand justice system had also repeatedly turned a blind eye to Alan Hall's imprisonment, despite extensive documentation provided to the Ministry of Justice describing what had gone wrong with his case. Nick Chisnall, the lawyer who helped persuade the Supreme Court to overturn Alan Hall's conviction, commented afterwards: "the fact it’s taken 30 years to get to this point, is an indictment on our criminal justice system. It demonstrates how hard a palpably innocent person has to work to overturn a conviction.” The reluctance of the justice system to overturn wrongful convictions led former justice Minister Andrew Little to declare that judges should not be appointed as commissioners - because judges might have adjudicated a previous case which now involved an applicant seeking to have his/her conviction overturned.
Beginnings Former Justice Minister Andrew Little was instrumental in establishing the CCRC. In February 2020, he announced it would be established in Hamilton, adding that: "we've have some significant cases where there have been miscarriages of justice and it has taken a long time for that to be detected, for things to be put right, and ultimately for justice to be done". Hamilton was chosen to try and remove Commissioners from day-to-day contacts with the "big bureaucratic and judicial centres" of Auckland and Wellington. Hamilton barrister Roger Laybourn agreed that making the Commission separate from the justice department and the court system is important. == Powers ==